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Cardinals believe they drafted players with the right 'DNA'

The Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals draft party – 2018

The Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Footballs at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals draft party – 2018

Footballs at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

The Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals draft party – 2018

The Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

The Cardinals cheerleaders perform at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals draft party – 2018

The Cardinals cheerleaders perform at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Cardinals fans watch the TV at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals draft party – 2018

Cardinals fans watch the TV at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Cardinals drummers at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals draft party – 2018

Cardinals drummers at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Fans pose for photos at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals draft party – 2018

Fans pose for photos at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

The Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals draft party – 2018

The Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Fans Chelsea and Nicholas Westfall react as the Cardinals trade-up to pick UCLA QB Josh Rosen at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals draft party – 2018

Fans Chelsea and Nicholas Westfall react as the Cardinals trade-up to pick UCLA QB Josh Rosen at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Fans Chelsea and Nicholas Westfall react as the Cardinals pick UCLA QB Josh Rosen at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals draft party – 2018

Fans Chelsea and Nicholas Westfall react as the Cardinals pick UCLA QB Josh Rosen at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Fans Chelsea and Nicholas Westfall react as the Cardinals pick UCLA QB Josh Rosen at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals draft party – 2018

Fans Chelsea and Nicholas Westfall react as the Cardinals pick UCLA QB Josh Rosen at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Fans react as the Cardinals pick UCLA QB Josh Rosen at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals draft party – 2018

Fans react as the Cardinals pick UCLA QB Josh Rosen at the Arizona Cardinals draft party on Apr. 26, 2018 on the Great Lawn outside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

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Like their counterparts with the 31 other NFL teams, Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim and coach Steve Wilks loved the results of their draft and are excited about the young men who will soon move into the locker room.

So excited, in fact, that it sounded as if Keim and Wilks wouldn’t mind if the six players moved into their neighborhoods and borrowed tools.

“The thing that I loved about this draft, and I think Coach (Steve Wilks) would echo these statements, is the type of people that we brought in,” Keim said after the draft ended Saturday. “We really wanted guys with character that love the game.”

Keim has said similar things throughout his five years as general manager, and it’s not as if he and former coach Bruce Arians filled the locker room with miscreants. Wilks pointed this out last Wednesday, the day before the draft, and emphasized the need for the Cardinals to add players who would fit into that culture.

“We don’t want a bunch of choir boys, I’m not saying that,” Wilks said. “But we want to make sure we got quality football players coming into the building.

“We’re not going to worry about getting a phone call in the middle of the morning that someone out in Scottsdale is doing something crazy.”

The idea, Wilks said, is to accurately evaluate character to decrease the chances of those early-morning calls.

The Cardinals’ draft evaluation, however, wasn’t all about adding trustworthy people to the roster. They spent additional time this year determining how much players loved the game. That, Keim said, was a result of mistakes he has made over the years.

He didn’t identify those mistakes but he did mention drafting “small-school guys that didn’t have, as Coach would say, the DNA or mental makeup. Or even guys that are extremely talented that maybe don’t love it enough.

“That’s where you get yourself in a bind. I almost promised myself we would take guys, even if they are a little less talented, but they have that makeup.”

That was especially important, Keim said, because it was Wilks’ first draft as a head coach.

“We wanted to make that statement,” he said.

Given that mission statement, some might think it curious the Cardinals traded up in the first round to take quarterback Josh Rosen with the 10th overall pick. Some pre-draft evaluations questioned Rosen’s devotion to the game, pointing out that his parents are well off financially and that Rosen has many interests outside football.

CLOSE

Former Saguaro receiver Christian Kirk discusses being drafted by his hometown Cardinals in the second round of the NFL draft on Saturday.
The Republic | azcentral.com

The counter to that argument is that Rosen is already affluent, so he must be playing for love of the game, and not money.

With receiver Christian Kirk, the Cardinals’ second-round pick, there were no questions about his passion for the game. Asked how long he had been preparing for the NFL, Kirk said since he was 5.

He wasn’t joking.

Neither is his high school coach, Scottsdale Saguaro’s Jason Mohns, when he tells people that Kirk has worked and acted like an NFL veteran since his freshman year of high school.

“One thing that I’ve learned coming here in a short period of time is we’ve got great men in that locker room – good character guys,” Wilks said. “(They’re) good football players on the field, but also guys that are going to represent this team well in the community. That’s what we’re looking for in the draft, to continue to bring in guys that have our certain DNA.”

That doesn’t mean every player red-flagged for character questions will be taken off the Cardinals’ draft board. Keim has gambled and won on such players before. Former safety Tyrann Mathieu is exhibit A.

But Keim and the Cardinals have been wowed by talent and burned by a lack of passion, too.

Defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, for instance, was a first-round pick in 2016 and has yet to make an impact. Nkemdiche is entering his third season, yet it remains hard to say how much the game means to him.

Keim emphasized the Cardinals won’t take a player off their board just because he might have been in trouble. College males tend to do stupid things on occasion.

From what we know, all six players selected by the Cardinals last Thursday through Saturday are good people who could be trusted to house sit.

The Cardinals feel confident they’re good football players, too. Time will tell.